2014 Downtown Plan Presentation Video

Here is some good video for the upcoming weekend. It’s the 2014 Downtown Plan Presentation on the latest available draft. You can get the presentation here (pdf) and follow along.

Blog posts on some of the finer details to come. If the video doesn’t work for you, see it directly here. (I recommend this as the Granicus player is tough to work with)

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13 Comments

  1. Very cool! I only got there to catch the last bit of the presentation so it’s nice to see the whole thing now. The Gateway Center is interesting. I’ve been wondering how they were gonna connect Dix and downtown. A pedestrian bridge or tram would be great!

  2. I had download the PDF presentation and it looks awesome. I would really like to see this come to life and make it a reality.

  3. If they can accomplish half of the items in the draft plan. I would be more than happy! I’m especially excited about the prospect of a downtown arena. Let’s leave the innovation campus in the park. Bringing the Canes DT along with all the national tours would be great. Let State have PNC. I think the Moore Square area should get a lot of the cities attention also. Oh what the heck lets do it all I’m game. But I don’t think my pocketbook is. Can you say tax increase lol

  4. Well I’m afraid that we can not avoid tax increases, at some point taxes will rise. I too would like to see at least half of the draft plan come to life. A downtown Arena will be a catalyist to the cities revival. I can see not only a canes game but also Shaw University play there as well as William Peace University as well as other events. Many possibilities to think about for a Arena downtown. Go..Raleigh…GO.!!!

  5. My two cents on the downtown arena: while I’m all for moving the Hurricanes to downtown, I don’t think that would happen within 10 years – as far as I know they are currently planning a multimillion dollar renovation to PNC Arena, and it doesn’t seem like it would make financial sense just to let the college use the gigantic arena simply for a few basketball and possibly hockey games. Here’s what I’m wishing for —- NC has NFL (Carolina Panthers in Charlotte), we have NBA (Charlotte Bobcats – horrible team tho), we have NHL (Carolina Hurricanes here in Raleigh), so what are we missing? MLB! If Raleigh could achieve a professional baseball team, we’d officially have the big 4 leagues in our state, and imagine the kind of new tourism we could gain with an all new pro sports team. I get that it may lessen the Durham Bulls fan base, but A: they are minor league, so games are much cheaper, and therefore should still attract plenty of families and Durham residents, and B: this is RALEIGH, and as much as we still need to support Durham/Chapel Hill, we need to stop worrying about the other triangle cities so much and focus on keeping the momentum up here. Also, I vote that we name the team “The Oak City (something)s” or the “Raleigh (something)s” and NOT “The Carolina blah blah blah boooooring” if we build it here in Raleigh, let it rep Raleigh

  6. Jake : During the 10 yr. plan meeting a few weeks ago , I was able to meet David Diaz , The Raleigh Urban Center’s Director & I talked to him about a downtown baseball team . He said believe it or not that you & I are on the same page . He said that he is currently in talks with Jim Goodnight , owner of the Durham Bulls , on bringing baseball to downtown Raleigh . In yesterday’s TBJ , it said that Mr. Goodnight was the 60th wealthest person in the USA . Mr. Diaz also said that if this doesn’t work out , Raleigh is also in talks with bring Pro Soccer to downtown Raleigh because their league is looking to expand to 4 more cities . Wanted to pass this on to everyone . Dwight Nipper

  7. Jim Goodnight does NOT own the Bulls. Jim Goodman, the owner of WRAL owns the Bulls and I seriously doubt he wants to create a competitor to the Bulls. Goodnight has been approached about acquiring a stake in the Hurricanes for some time as has his partner, John Sall. Neither are ‘sports guys’ and so far neither have expressed any interest in owning any sort of sports franchise.

    Raleigh has been rumored as an MLS market for some time but somebody needs to step up quickly from an ownership perspective and indicate that they would be willing to bring a franchise to Raleigh. Unlike our insecure neighbor to the southwest who is obsessed with having any pro sports franchise(because they think it makes them ‘big-time’), Raleigh simply has been a much less aggressive City (historically) as it relates to professional sports. Computer nerds don’t care about pro sports, I suppose…. :)

    I’m not suggesting pro sports are the ‘end all, be all of life’, but the City does risk losing out on an MLB, MLS, NBA, or NFL franchises, as well as risk losing the NHL franchise we currently have if we don’t get more aggressive around the economic value of professional sports as well as the identity, branding, etc. that a franchise can create for a City.

  8. Who is going to give up their neighborhood to build this arena and parking lot? The current PNC Area is on 80 acres. That is alot of houses which need to be taken over and residents pushed out.

  9. Few extra thoughts on what is being discussed now: First, I reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally hope we don’t get a “Major League Soccer” team…… good god that would be lame. Second, as much as an MLB team might be considered a competitor to the Durham Bulls, it’s major league vs minor league, and also, as I said before, we need to STOP WORRYING ABOUT DURHAM and focus on what’s good for RALEIGH. A MLB team in Raleigh would be HUGE. Soccer? hahahahahahahaha Los Angeles spent MILLIONS upon MILLIONS to bring David Beckham aaaaaaand…. nobody cared. I understand soccer is the most popular sport in the world, but in America? More accurately the American South?? Come on now, let’s just be realistic. Would the stadium be as packed for MLS than it would for MLB? I cannot imagine. Finally, to follow up on Arthur’s question- take a look at the area for “Gateway Center” in the PDF you can dL, there is clearly no neighborhood there. A baseball stadium would also take up muuuuch less space than an NHL arena, and there would also be no surface parking lot (which would cut down on the space it would take up). Really hoping Dwight is correct about the city wanting to bring a baseball team here. And for the record, I never ever ever watch baseball. Boring as hell. But I would be so proud to wear my city’s baseball hat, whereas with soccer…. yea-no – ALSO, if the plan is to just bring another minor league baseball team, they shouldn’t even bother with a stadium LOL

  10. The City does intend to move the arena downtown…at some point. Whether NC State joins the Hurricanes is a ways off in time. An NBA franchise has also been rumored but so has a standalone hockey arena.

    As a second thread, the City is also exploring another sports facility and/or franchise to build a stadium downtown. The Carolina Mudcats and MLS have been discussed as has MLB. MLB is a stretch in my opinion. Outside the mega cities these franchises struggle. Even Atlanta can barely fill a stadium.

  11. Couldn’t a MLB stadium be built where Cargill plant is currently located especially if South Blount St where closed and properties to east such as bonded warehouse also included? The city already owns adjacent parcels at City Farm Road making it easier to assemble a large contiguous tract I would think. The land to the south is in a flood plain I think but perhaps a park with softball fields or, dare I say it, soccer fields could be set up here? Would make a nice dovetail usage next to a baseball stadium.

    I read a while back that Cargill shut down their soybean processing and only store commodities at the site now. I’d imagine they’ve been a good corporate citizen but this area of Raleigh is no longer appropriate for their kind of operation.

    Along with King’s Motel, etc. Cargill is holding back the entire south side making the area an absolute eyesore to say it politely. If this area could somehow be redeveloped it would do wonders for the South Park neighborhood and all of S. Wilmington St. would be the better for it.

    And you know what, there’s a train track already in place down that way making it possible I would think to include a light rail stop at the stadium?

  12. MLS…not everybody likes Soccer, some folks may prefer MLB But South of Downtown near MLK Blvd. there is very little residence there, plenty of Space for a Stadium/Office area what is being called Gateway Center.If you look at the Downtown presentation draft in the video, you can clearly see that a possible stadium can be built there, Not to offend anyone But the South is not known for any major sports events, just College sports.But that is just my two cents…i can be wrong. So..why not a Stadium downtown, if you look at other states their NFL or MLB stadiums are succesful and others not as much. it is all about good planning and marketing a team that will play downtown. Example: and don’t quate me on it, lets say a stadium is built and a major baseball team is in raleigh,the team would be called…..Raleigh Comets….Raleigh Redhawks..etc. Something that we as raleigh citizens can call our own and support. we can bicker and sqawk until the end of time…but we as citizens need to come together and agree as a people what we want for our community. otherwise..what’s the point of it all. like it or not..change is coming, better or worse..But i prefer for the better.

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